Andhra Garelu

Garellu

In my house, no festival is completed without garelu, pulihora and payasam. During the festive days, almost all the south Indian kitchens, back at home end up with more or less the same menu.

Ulli Garelu ( that’s how I love to call) are so crunchy and is packed with protein. we have so many protein based breakfast choices  like Idli, dosa, pesarattu, ragi dosa, sajja dosa, etc..

Ingredients-

• 1 cup whole urad dal (black gram dal, Minapappu)
• 2″ ginger chopped
• 6 green chillies chopped
• 1 big onion finely chopped
• 1 small bunch of coriander leaves chopped
• 1 big stalk of curry leaves (washed and chopped)
• 1 tbsp Cumin (Jeera) seeds
• salt to taste
• oil for deep frying

steps to make garelu / vada

Directions-

1. Soak whole urad dal in water (dal should soak completely in water) for 5-6 hours.
   Strain the water from the dal and grind the soaked dal to a paste in small batches sprinkling little water and salt (Dough for garelu should be very thick)
2. While grinding the dal, add ginger and green chillies to the grinder as well. (We don’t want our kids to accidentally bite a green chili or ginger)
3. After we grind all the dal to a smooth paste, add chopped onions, cumin seeds, curry leaves and coriander leaves to the batter and mix well.
4. Take a deep frying vessel and add enough oil for deep frying.
5. When the oil is hot(drop a piece of dough and the dough should immediately rise to the top), wet your hands with water and take a golf sized ball and flatten it into a vada on a wet paper towel or banana leaf or wax paper.
   Make a hole in the centre of the garelu so that it cooks evenly all over. (look at the above pics)
6. Slowly drop it into the hot oil carefully and fry it on both sides on medium heat to a golden brown color.
7. Serve hot with peanut or coconut chutney. This can go excellent with chicken curry or mutton curry as well.

Garellu with coconut chutney